Daily Archives: September 8, 2014

It’s a year since I managed to persuade my ZOE to go 122 miles on one charge so, with the weather being mild, it seemed like a good time to try for another range record. Previously I had aimed for driving to work and back (typically 38 miles round trip) twice, and then driving around locally to make up the distance. This time I was more confident so I charged up last Tuesday night then drove to work and back on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

This time I chose a more convoluted route (about 42 miles round trip) so I could avoid long stretches with speeds above 40mph, instead travelling mostly on back roads, through villages and an industrial estate, to keep my average speed down. I had prepared by inflating the tyres to 38psi, but otherwise the car was unmodified in any way. The air conditioning was on but since I was in Eco mode it was pretty feeble as usual.

Most of the time I had the speed limiter set to 30mph though I had to increase it on the unavoidable faster stretches. Conversely I decreased it to 20mph toward the end of the attempt.

R-Link Onboard Computer display after 142 miles (Image: T. Larkum)

To keep a long story short – and it was a long story as my 40 minute trips took an hour each way – it was all uneventful. With a few unavoidable detours (family lifts, shopping, etc.) by the time I got home on Friday night I had already done more than 130 miles. On Saturday morning I just drove locally to use up the remaining charge and got back home having reached 142 miles, with just 1% charge left. I had also achieved a dashboard display of 6.02 miles per kWh which I have never managed before.

Your one stop source for news and updates on the Renault ZOE. For the latest prices and deals with free charging visit FuelIncluded.com.